Young Adult Revisited

Claudia loves being back in seventh grade. She is queen of the seventh grade, has some great friends and a cute boyfriend. SMS is about to launch its annual Color War, something that’s never been mentioned before or since. They divide everyone up according to class. Each class picks its own color and Claudia freaks out because her class picks orange and she hates it. She does signup as the head of her class and makes her boyfriend Mark volunteer too. Mrs. Ames the guidance counselor calls her into the office to announce that she’s ready to go back to the eighth grade. She decides to let Claudia make the final decision. All of her seventh grade friends want her to stay, while her eighth grade friends and family want her to go back to the eighth grade. Claudia keeps freaking out because she doesn’t know what she should do. Then she starts having problems with her boyfriend because Mark is never around. All of her friends go with her to meet the guidance counselor, b

Peaches is about to have her baby and when the book opens, the Kishi family gets a sonogram photo of the new baby. Claudia is especially thrilled and keeps making tons of gifts for the baby and secretly hoping that they name her Mimi. She and the other girls even start calling the baby little Mimi. When Russ calls to tell them that she went into labor, Claudia freaks out. She waits outside, jumps on her dad and makes everyone drive right to the hospital. Of course Peaches is nowhere close to giving birth. Jeanine asks if Russ asked them specifically to rush over and she admits that he didn’t. They end up sitting at the hospital for hours, until the doctors finally induce. Peaches and Russ have a little girl that same night. The next day, they get the chance to see the baby for the first time and Claudia is over the moon. She’s even happier when they ask her to be the baby’s godmother. She’s a little worried that her sister will be upset, but Jeanine thinks they m

Alex Hunter is heading off to the small town of Wolf Creek for a few weeks. He loves photography, so he is staying with his Uncle Colin and Aunt Greta who work as professional photographers. They warn him about the creek and act kind of funny around him. Plus, he notices that they look a lot older than they did the last time he saw them. Their house looks nice, but the house next door has an overgrown lawn and looks abandoned. They warn him to stay away from that house because the Marlings’ don’t like people. He meets a neighborhood girl Hanna, who takes him to school and tells him about the people in town. They go on a walk in the woods, but she makes him leave before dark. They run into classmates Arjun and Sean who make cryptic comments about werewolves. Alex hears weird noises that night coming from the house next door and looks for his camera. Realizing he left it in the woods, he runs outside to grab it. Coming back, he wanders into the Marlings’ yard and n

Margret and Casey are left alone with their dad, when their mom has to rush out of town to take care of a family member. Their dad is a biologist that was recently fired because of his work. One of their friends says she heard he was fired because one of his experiments killed someone, but they just tell her to shut up. One day they sneak down to the basement where he’s been working and he freaks out. He warns them not to step foot in the basement. They sneak back downstairs and see a bunch of weird plants, including one that almost seems like it’s breathing. Margret is completely freaked out, but Casey thinks it’s kind of funny. Before long, they start noticing that their dad is acting weird. One day he starts wearing a baseball hat and when it slips off, they see leaves growing out of his head. He promises that it’s a temporary thing and will clear up later. Then Margret sees him chowing down on a big bag of something, even though he never eats in front of him.

I always liked Stacey when I was a kid, but after this book I’m trying to figure out why! Stacey is still dating Ethan, but she’s ticked because he is always busy. He has a part-time job and can’t spend as much time with her as he did before. He signs up for a Sunday class because none of the other sessions were open, which means she can’t see him then either. He makes plans to come down and see her the following weekend. The next day, she sees the new guy at school. Mary Anne admits that he’s cute, and they talk about how noticing a guy doesn’t mean they don’t love their boyfriends any less. Claudia also notices him and thinks he is really cute. Stacey and Claudia meet him at lunch. His name is Jeremy and he seems nice (I guess). He sits with the BSC at lunch and they learn more about him. Claudia announces that she has a crush on him and Stacey agrees to find out if he likes her too. Of course, after one conversation with him Stacey decides that she likes him to

Mitchell, his little brother Todd and their parents moved to a new rundown house. His dad is constantly working around the house and they don’t have a lot of money. Mitchell hates their car and asks his dad if they can get a new one. His dad refuses, until the brakes go out and they almost die. Mitchell finds an ad in the newspaper with a like-new car that you name your price on and he convinces his dad to go. The car looks great and when they take it for a test drive, it runs great. His dad claims that they will not buy the car, but the seller offers it to them for $5,000 if they drive it away that day. They take the car home and everyone loves it. Mitchell begs his dad to take him for a ride, but he refuses. That night he sneaks downstairs and climbs inside the car. The doors lock behind him and he can’t get out. He struggles, but can’t find the door locks. Luckily a girl opens the door and lets him out. Her name is Marissa and she just moved into a house down the